The World's Eulogy
by S. A. Rendell
Summary: A nuclear war between mankind left the human race extinct and the pokémon inhabitants of the world alone to adapt. The radiation mutated pokémon species so that pokémon types can manipulate certain energies related to that of their own species type. Our story follows a group of Umbreon who, with their adept control over negative energies, fight something far beyond them.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

War; no matter what civilisation you're part of, it always means the same thing, it has done for years, decades, centuries. It just never changes.

Bombs were dropped on every city, in every country. Everything that was the United Kingdom – was now no more. The year is 2125. I wouldn't know who started the fighting, I was born into this already dead world.

I was told about the times before the war by the older members of the Caves we stayed in as a protection from the poisons that now cursed our lands. But the Caves didn't completely protect us. Enough of a certain type of radiation leaked through. This radiation was known as EAR – Energia Altering Radiation. The EAR changed the pokémon who inhabit this world's genetic codes, resulting in mutations that allowed them to channel energy from the world and wield it as a deadly weapon.

What became of the humans you wonder? I was told that the humans had killed each other off. I wouldn't know too much about that though. All I've ever known is, what is now referred to as, the Royal Wasteland. It's now all that's left of the old United Kingdom. Recently, however, the centre of London became inaccessible as the New Parliamentarian State closed it off to the public. They claim they're there to mop up Royalist activity and that they're keeping the public safe so that they can bring the country back to order; but something else is happening there. Something dark and mysterious is happening in this world. Something I am yet to discover.

It seems that years of experience with the horrors of the Royal Wasteland would never prepare me for what I and my friends would discover. I guess the saying, that war has the same meaning in all languages is true. It just means pain. Death. Torture. Because war – war never changes. Not even when the world's eulogy has been delivered.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1  
**_'When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.' - __**Peter Marshall**_

* * *

As I entered the prep-room I heard lieutenant Keeves call to me. I turned to face his resonating sarcasm from the gloom behind me.  
"Ah, Razz, the one and only! Any idea why the major is calling us here?"  
"I've no idea Keeves, maybe you should ask her when she gets here" I stared him emotionlessly in the eye, I had no intention with provoking him as of right now.  
"Alright, alright. My, his majesty is in a bad mood?" Keeves chuckled boldly to himself. His satirical joke broke my emotionless state.  
"Very funny Keeves. I'd insult your mother but she's dead isn't she? Besides there's no Umbreon caste-system anymore as there's-" I would've continued if it wasn't for the soft black paw that found its way onto my lips.  
"Shut up Razz. You're feeding him." Major Light practically purred to me, it sent a shudder down my spine. "Right! Listen up freeloaders! You know our mission, the NPS is hiding something in Trafalgar, there's way too much military activity in that region for 'Royalist activity'" She rolled her eyes as she spoke the words. "Our mission is simple: find out what they're up to and put an end to it!"  
I listened to Light's tactics from the other side of the table that was positioned in the centre of the murky room that smelt like sulphur as torches scintillated in the four corners of the room. As Light spoke I couldn't help but notice how she holds herself in an almost impenetrable confidence. Her paws positioned on the table, pressed hard against the glass, but light enough to allow fluidity in her body language, the way the Geiger counter on her leg clung to her fur; as though it were a lost pup clinging to its mother for protection, but loose enough to provoke the implicature that even inanimate objects trust her with their lives. My attention was drawn to her face now. She was staring at me, with an almost irritated look on her face.  
"Are you even listening Razz?" the words took me by surprise.  
"Uhhh...Y-yes ma'am" stuttering my words, I tried to fixate my mind back to reality.  
"Mhmm." Light didn't sound convinced, but she continued anyway. "The 6 of us will separate into two groups of three. Keeves, Paddington and Lambeth will be team Alpha. You guys will move from station to station from Old Town and ending up in Leicester Square. Team Omega will be Razz, Vauxhall and I. We will move through the underground tunnels at Old Town and will rendezvous with Alpha team at Leicester Square just outside Trafalgar. Understood Commando's?"  
"Yes ma'am" the four other Commando's and I all called out simultaneously. We were all ready to ruin whatever the NPS were up to, but then a question found its way into my thoughts; was I ready?  
"Oh and Razz." Light called to me before I left the prep room, "If you endanger anyone's life on this mission, I won't hesitate to take yours. Understood?" my heart sank as soon as I heard the threat.  
"Yes…ma'am" I replied sullenly. I followed Vauxhall out of the prep-room; feeling Light's burning, judgemental, God-like eyes tearing into the back of my neck. I didn't realise what was at stake with this mission. This could be the last thing I do on this world alive. If I messed up once; just once, I could find Light's gun entrenched in the scruff of my neck, pressing firmly until the barrel burst into flame, and subsequently, so would my head. This could be the mission where my heart stops.

As we made our way to Old Street the six of us broke apart and stood in our two teams; Alpha and Omega.  
"Right men!" Light's voice broke the ghoulish silence "Umbrage rifles ready?" the sound of rifles being bolted and cocked followed. A tiny but distinctively clear voice interrupted me as I manipulated my Umbrage Rifle into existence and loaded it.  
"Umbrage rifles?"  
"Vauxhall? Have you not reached this point in your training?" Light questioned Vauxhall with a perplexed look on her face, yet a gentle, amiable voice emanated from her lips. Vauxhall simply replied with a frightened but anxious shake of her head. "Ok," Light paused for a moment; thinking. "Razz. I'm going to speak to Keeves for a moment, I need to know if his team is prepared for the trek to Leicester. Can you teach Vauxhall how to use Umbrage?" I nodded in acknowledgment, as soon as I had, Light disappeared.  
"You see, Vauxhall, we, as Umbreon are naturally attuned with the ability to manipulate negative energy. As we manipulate it; it ripples space and time, causing an entity to occur, we call this entity 'Umbrage'. This Umbrage can take the form of anything we wish for it to be, in this case, rifles. All you have to do is focus your mind and energy on one point in front of you, OK?" I spoke softly and with a calm and patient manner. Vauxhall was young and a blood-mutation. Unlike I, who was a rare purple-blooded mutation, she was a much more common blood. Her rings were green and she was always cheery and prepared for anything, which is ironic, considering her unpreparedness for this mission.  
Vauxhall and I were close, so teaching her was easy, after my explanation of what Umbrage is, and how you can form it, I gave her a few demonstrations.  
"OK Razz let me have a go" Vauxhall whistled to me in a sing-song voice. I smiled and gave her the chance.  
I watched anxiously, but somewhat eager; eager to see if my training skills were ample enough to allow another commando the chance to learn. As I stood biting my lip, threating to puncture the skin and draw blood, I wanted to intervene in what Vauxhall was doing, there was something about watching her strain as she attempted to focus her mind and energy into one point in space and time that made me uncomfortable to watch. Needless to say, the whole thing was unsettling. I turned away to see Light's attention turned towards preparing the other team. That's when I heard Vauxhall's happy giggling.  
"I did it! I did it Razz!" to my shock, Vauxhall had caused a ripple to form "Now what?" she asked with a genuine tone of a sense of hopefulness mixed with the urge for guidance.  
"Just think about what you want. A rifle; think about a rifle!" My angst had turned to eagerness and I now couldn't take my eyes off of her. As she strained, sweat began to bead from her forehead. I flinched as my teeth dug into the flesh on my bottom lip, soon after I pierced the flesh on my lip, my lips curved into a smile. The Umbrage, that was between Vauxhall and I, began to shift; it convulsed, conformed and contorted into various different shapes as it tried to configure itself into a rifle, suddenly the Umbrage convulsed in such a way that it formed the shape it was after.  
"I did it Razz! I really did it!" Vauxhall's voice cracked as she squealed out with joy, she blushed in embarrassment after she realised it herself, this caused me to chuckle softly.  
"Congratulations Vauxhall, now, are you two ready to move out?" Light's voice broke into the conversation before I could congratulate Vauxhall. My face grew serious as I replied,  
"Yes ma'am, Vauxhall and I are ready to begin the mission."  
"Ok brilliant. Keeves, start leading your team to Leicester, contact us using this" I curiously watched as Keeves was passed a watch-like device that he fastened to his front leg. "It's Umbrage-Tec. It's a prototype communicator for new Umbrage Commando's. Only use it when it's imperative to contact my team and I"  
"Yes ma'am" Keeves ran off down the road, his team not far behind on his tail. It was now, that my attention was drawn to the eerie, wrought iron-gate that held the gloom of the subway station at bay.  
"Ready team?" Light reassuringly patted me on the back.  
"Yes ma'am" both Vauxhall and I held expressionless faces. But you could almost smell our fear, our faces, however, would never show it. Light's next words brought a shiver of echoed fear down my back.  
"Then Let's go" she spoke with a dark tone and a blank expression. She moved to the gate with an otherworldly fluidity. She pushed it open; rifle raised, she skulked through the gate and into the gloom below. I could smell the poignant stench of rot and mould.  
"It's clear! Are you guys moving?" she called to us, the stagnant fog almost muffling her voice.  
"Yes ma'am" we called back as we followed into the station; like meat to the slaughter. I reminisced; yes ma'am…how many times have I said that without a thought towards my own safety.

The atmosphere in the underground station felt heavier. The gloom pressed down on my body, making my movements feel heavy and uncoordinated. I kept my rifle raised level to my eye, making aiming easier. I looked over to Vauxhall who was learning how to manoeuvre and aim with the rifle, she seemed like a natural.  
"Let's move" Light's voice was shallow and emotionless. I followed behind her as she moved, Vauxhall followed shortly behind me. As we stepped onto the abandoned station platform, all natural light drained from the world and only darkness and gloom prevailed. I flicked on my flashlight, as did Light and Vauxhall.  
"Tread carefully Vauxhall" my whisper was carried far by the acoustics of this hollowed ,underground, man-made cave. I heard her acknowledge my words with a simple mhmm. I shone the torch onto Light who was watching me with her deep blue eyes.  
"Listen up, we have no idea what lies in this place. I've heard from other commando's who've scouted out many of these tunnels, that a group of feral Persians have presided here. You know what that means Razz" I screwed my face upon hearing this; less than satisfying news.  
"Hellions…" I cursed under my breath. I heard Vauxhall laugh with a less than pleased tone.  
"What's a bloody Hellion?" her voice was brittle in the echo and was partially lost, but the sound of immediate fear wasn't. I tried to explain as best I could.  
"A Hellion is a Persian who's been subjugated to deadly doses of radiation…so much so that their genetic DNA has altered completely; meaning they don't age. They live until they're killed. Typically, Hellion are just mischievous and behave like normal Persians, but after so much time their brains' are decayed to a point that they become feral and lose all sense of rationality and will kill anyone, who isn't a Hellion, on sight." I could hear her shudder with fear. She didn't back down though, instead she soldiered up and stood straight again.  
"I can take them" she said with a barely, believable tone.  
"Are you sure Vauxhall?" I asked cautiously; not wanting to sound condescending. That's when she cocked the bolt on her rifle.  
"Affirmative" her tone had now changed from false heroism to bravado. It rang hope through me; hope that I, no; we, may survive this mission.  
As we made our way down the eerily, darkened, claustrophobic tunnel tracks; no words were spoken. Only the sound of our paws patting the gravel down, compacting it beneath our claws, echoed through this archaic underground tunnel. Our flashlights searched the tunnels to an almost echo locative precision. I watched the left, Vauxhall focused on the right and Light kept our front end covered. Our only weakness was from behind. I jumped when Vauxhall gasped.  
"Are you okay Vauxhall?" I spoke loud enough for my voice to be carried through the echo to her.  
"Yeah I'm fine. I just caught my leg on something" I heard her struggle. "It's stuck." I heard Light grunt in displeasure. Before Light instructed me to do so I went to aid Vauxhall. I shined my flashlight down to her paw. The reflection of her green rings obtrusively imposing the reflective glint of green into my eyes. I squinted to lessen its effects and saw that her paw was caught between the track and a point in the gravel that had caved in around her foot like quicksand.  
"Light, keep an eye out. I'm going to try and free her paw" my voice carried out an echo much louder than I had anticipated.  
"Sure. Whatever, just hurry up" Light raised her rifle and aimed down the tunnel, her flashlight lit the entire tunnel up in front of us, but only for a couple-hundred yards. I began to kick up the gravel around Vauxhall's paw, this consumed most of the time and as soon as I had finished freeing it from the gravel, pulling her paw out was easy.  
"There, done. Now get ready to move." I smiled at Vauxhall but she wasn't smiling. Her complexion was that of a ghost. I looked to the tunnel ahead and saw nothing. What was she staring at? She tapped me on the shoulder, only she wasn't facing forward. I turned to look behind us. That was when I heard the hissing. "Hellions…" That was when Light turned around and her blue eyes lit up with fear.  
We turned and levelled our rifles; took aim and shot. All the while we retreated backwards down the tunnel, the way we were supposed to be moving.  
"Shoot these ugly bastards!" Light bellowed out at the top of her lungs, her yellow rings flared as my flashlight on my rifle enveloped her as I reloaded. I took another shot, followed by another. It seemed as though the more I took down; the more that kept coming. I counted as I shot. Seven…Eight…Nine! How many more? Someone must be hearing these shots.  
"Screw this" Light muttered loud enough for both of us to hear. "Run!" Upon Light's order, I laced off one final shot and turned tail and ran down the tunnel. There was only a couple of Hellions down this side of the tunnel. I dodged past them as they lunged forward, trying to push me over with their considerably larger paws and sink their teeth into me. I had a near escape as one of them slashed at my back left leg, one of their claws latched into my skin and tore it; deep. I remember shouting out in pain, my body instructed me to stop and rest; but I know that would be certain death. I continued running, dodging, ducking, and weaving around and past these ferocious attackers.  
As Light and Vauxhall stopped, waiting for me to catch up. I was pounced. I pushed back with all my strength onto the Hellion's chest. Keeping it just inches away from tearing out my throat. I could feel it swinging its claws around, clawing at my skin, creating many lacerations down my body; they were only minor wounds however. My strength gave for a second and it sunk its teeth into my shoulder and that's when I heard the shot. It's eyes sunk to the back of its head and collapsed on top of me. I scrambled underneath it and managed to pry its teeth from my flesh and I kicked its lifeless body off of me. Vauxhall gasped as she shone her flashlight on me.  
"You're a mess! You've been bitten and clawed apart!"  
"Thanks, you look good too" I chuckled weakly, my head spun and the adrenaline in my body began to fade, making the pain from my wounds all too apparent.  
We walked for another couple-hundred yards before we made it to the next station across. As we made our way off of the tracks and onto the platform, I collapsed into a bloody heap on the floor. My mind began to wander in circles. I saw Light yelling, but I couldn't make out her words. All I could hear was a loud humming in my ears, then my vision started to blur; the Umbreon that was Light became a contorted mess in front of me. I saw this mess; this pixelated blur, begin to move and fumble around in what appeared to me to be another blur, but this one was a different colour, it wasn't black, maybe a brown? As my mind started to loop circles and my eyes began to close, I felt a sharp prick of a needle and the release of fluid under my flesh. I yelped in pain. My vision had returned as did my hearing. That's when I saw Light drop the Adrenaline shot from her mouth, the needle pointed towards me. That's also when I had noticed my wounds were bandaged up.  
"H-how did-" I was cut off by Light.  
"Shush, Razz; you passed out. I thought you had died on me lieutenant." Her voice was soft, her yellow rings were caught by the moonlight from the foyer above. She smiled at me. "Vauxhall bandaged up your wounds after cleaning them out. You should be fully recovered in the morning, aside from having some wounds still open. But you'll live." She smiled at me, her expression was riddled with angst and worry, but she'd never show her worry, she kept a cold exterior, but I could see through her cold stares and her expressionless eyes. As I smiled back at Light, the faint crackle of wood and the aroma of pine wood wafted across my nose, I turned my head to find the source of this sweet stench. Vauxhall had lit a fire, unsuccessfully and successfully were debatable, but as far as I was concerned, the scent of singed fur was overridden by the glorious smell of burning pine.  
"That nearly lit me alight!" Vauxhall violently whispered, so as to not alert the Hellions to our presence.  
"How did you light that?" I asked curiously.  
"Will-o-wisp" she replied with a sharp chuckle and a look that accused me of being crazy. "Why is that so weird to you?"  
"Why? I'll tell you why. Since the war that killed the planet, Pokémon haven't been able to use movesets. It's an archaic ability of which that we no longer need. Because the people who used to train us to use these moves are now all dead." She screwed up her face in thought.  
"Does that mean-?" she asked even though she already knew the answer. She swallowed heavily. "Does that mean I'm a mutant?"  
"Who knows. For all we know, Razz and I are the mutants." Light made a brilliant point, were we the mutants? The ones who can't use abilities like our pre-war ancestors could? But we're the majority. There are more Pokémon who can't; than Pokémon who can. So going by the majority logic, we were normal. Vauxhall shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a hiss. My heart practically stopped.  
"Razz, can you run?" Light asked me with a tone of urgency. I tried to stand, but my legs buckled beneath me from exhaustion.  
"I can't even stand." I saw Light's eye twitch in the moonlight.  
"I'm sorry Razz…Vauxhall, create a rifle let's get out of here." My heart threatened to stop.  
"We can't just leave him here Light!" Vauxhall spoke out but I knew it was hopeless.  
"Well, I'm out of here, with or without either of you." That's when a Hellion pounced from the darkness behind her.  
Time slowed down, my heart raced at a speed that made me feel faint. I had to save Light. I formed an Umbrage handgun in a flash; I took aim and, just before the Hellion suck its teeth into her neck, I took the shot. The Hellion collapsed to the ground, lifeless and limp, but for a split second the muzzle flash illuminated the entire station platform. There were thousands of them. Light's eyes were stricken with fear. That's when I felt my body being lifted and I was being carried by Vauxhall.  
"Light! We have to get out of here!" Vauxhall shouted at Light. Light snapped out of her fear-frozen state.  
"We have to get up top, to the station car-park" Light commanded us through a stutter. As soon as the word was said Vauxhall shifted both her and myself up the staircase to the surface, followed closely by Light.  
I saw the Hellions follow us up, I took a couple more shots and then my pistol faded. I had no energy left. My vision blurred again, my hearing became impaired. I could feel myself going back under the grasp of darkness, even though the moonlight beat down onto my blood-matted fur. My eyes started to close, a voice that sounded like Light rang; muffled in my ear.

I felt the sting of a needle into my skin again. I sat up and stared at Light and Vauxhall, both staring at me with relief. Vauxhall had a bad cut across her chest, she winced at me as soon as she had noticed my eyes fixed to it. That's when my attention was drawn to the matted fur on Light's left-side of her head. Blood knotted her fur and the top part of her ear had been bitten off savagely.  
"What happened?!" I panicked.  
"It's okay Razz. Vauxhall got you out of that underground station over there" she pointed her paw towards the underground station entrance a few feet away from where I lay, though my vision hadn't returned fully, so I couldn't quite make out its name. "As soon as we made it the end of the car park, the Hellion were upon us. One tackled me, had its teeth around my ear, and as it shook my head around trying to snap my neck, Vauxhall took the shot, unaware of the Hellion's paw that soon took a slash out of her. It didn't live long after that. And this is where we held off until the sun came up. Which they don't like." Her ears flattened against her neck as she told me what happened. Tears had filled her eyes. "Oh…and I'm sorry I nearly left you to die down in the station…I wasn't thinking I-" she cut off as one tear ran down her face. Light had been broken by fear and her cold exterior lay in ruins. Years of suppressing her emotions began to flood out in tears.  
"It's okay Light. You needed to make a decision and if I was in your position I probably would've done the same thing." She smiled as her tears ran off her face.  
"Thank you Razz" I smiled weakly back at her. She had so much pain that she suppressed; she didn't need me, her friend, hating her for one mistake.  
Vauxhall pulled one of the barrel fires near to us and we all laid around it as the sun started to set behind the horizon. Vauxhall had bandaged up her chest wound and now had a sash of blood-soaked bandaging tightened around her body.  
"How does it look?" she chuckled whimsically.  
"Sublime Vauxhall" Light spoke with a satirical tone in her voice. Vauxhall and I laughed at her response. As the laughter died down, we all stared off into the fire in the barrel beside us. I sighed.  
"What's the matter Razz?" Vauxhall questioned me. I screwed my face up as I thought.  
"You know we should probably move away from here." I paused. Neither Light or Vauxhall replied. They both knew why. Then Light sighed.  
"Yeah you're right, those Hellion know we're here. We should probably get away from here, or else we'll be sitting Psyduck."  
"A Psyduck could probably defend itself more than us at this point." Vauxhall replied in finality. Then she looked to me. "Can you stand?" My paws became sweaty as I remembered the station platform. I couldn't stand and I was nearly a feral Hellion's next meal.  
"I can try?" I stuttered. My voice lacked the confidence I intended. I breathed slowly and I swallowed viscously. I flattened my paw on the concrete and pushed on it, this gave me the momentum that I needed and I wobbled to my four paws. My head swam. My legs told me to lay down, as did my body. I took one step and winced in pain. "I can barely walk." I spoke through wincing eyes and gritted teeth.  
"It'll do to get to that building down this road, can you make that Razz?" Light's voice was caring and frightened.  
"I can try ma'am" I winced as I stepped forward.  
"That's all I ever ask of you Razz." She said sullenly.  
Vauxhall walked next to me as Light darted off down the road, every time I tripped or stumbled on my unbalanced legs, Vauxhall helped me recover. We made it halfway down the road when the sun slipped beyond the horizon.  
"Crap." I scolded myself and tried to break into a light run. Adrenaline took control of my body and I ran, with a limp, towards the building Light had pointed out. I could hear the cacophony of hisses emerging from the station. My heart wavered in my chest. I looked up. We were nearly there; but then so were the Hellion's. 20 yards. 15. How much further? I looked behind me and saw one of the hellish, red eyes appear from behind the stations entrance and it stepped out onto the car-park. That's as I skidded around the corner and into the building that was to be our safe haven for the night. Vauxhall followed behind.  
Light, Vauxhall and I made our way up the stairs and we sat on the top floor of the cold, ruined, skeleton-of-a-building; in the cold, unable to light a fire in fear of being found, Unable to warm our bodies, we waited there in the cover of night, hidden from the Hellions; but our flesh was being eaten by something much more painful – the cold.

At some point in the night I had passed out from pain and exhaustion. I woke up, my pains had been soothed by the moments I was asleep. I stood on shaky legs and made my way to Vauxhall who was shivering in the corner with Light, hunched over and curled into a ball to preserve their body-heat. I pressed a paw onto her back, she smiled at me, as did Light. They both expressed their pleasure at seeing me move.  
"I thought you had died in your sleep Razz!" Vauxhall, who had her paws wrapped around me, laughed. "One moment you were letting off quiet, agonising, moans of pain; and you were shivering. The next moment, you weren't making any noise and you weren't moving." Light nodded along with Vauxhall's description.  
"But now you're up, we can move out. If we head down this road we may be able to meet up with Keeves and the rest of Alpha team." Light sat up as she spoke, her body seemed to appreciate the movement. She stretched outwards, her ears flattened against her neck again and she winced in pain as her bloodied ear twitched. She shook off the pain and wrinkled her nose. "Not quite used to having half an ear yet. But it'll be an interesting story to tell nonetheless." She chuckled to herself.  
"You're not the only one, I'm not used to having scars line my body and being a poor walker." I spoke as subtly as I could, trying not to invoke the feeling of guilt back into Light for nearly leaving me to die. She simply stared off down the stairs and muttered inaudibly.  
"Shall we get moving then?" she asked rather more sullen than her previous words.  
"Yes ma'am"  
"Please stop calling me ma'am" Light placed her paw onto the first step and looked us in the eye. "Just call me Light. Please." Vauxhall and I nodded, not in understanding but mainly in confusion, but we dared not to question her motives.  
Light led the group down the stairs, Vauxhall was in the back, Light was in the front and I was in the middle, this meant I was the one that kept the pace. If I fell behind, so did Vauxhall, then Light would notice and close the gap. We had this formation because I was too weak to keep any form of Umbrage weaponry materialised for long, making me almost worthless. We walked in complete silence, only the ambience of nature and the sounds of gunshots in the distance would echo around. Our footsteps were light, except for mine. I limped painlessly as one of my legs was wounded so badly after I had been pinned by that Hellion back in the underground tracks, it was a miracle that I was able to walk on it at all. Vauxhall seemed more atone to controlling a rifle that was merely manipulated from her mind. Light seemed off in a daze as she brooded and watched her surroundings. That's when the ticking started. Light looked down at her leg and pounced back until the clicking stopped.  
"Radiation." She muttered.  
"How much?" I asked, though not really wanting an answer.  
"Too much. We have to go around." Light span around and began to walk back the way we came.  
"Alright come on Vaux-" I turned around and saw Vauxhall sprinting across the irradiated path beyond me. I shouted to her "Vauxhall! It's irradiated! Get back here!" She stopped and turned to face me. Her eyes were lit up with fear. I looked at her quizzically, then she ran, continuing down the path. That's when I turned around, expecting to get a look of confusion from Light. Instead, I saw something much worse than a Hellion.

A Machamp had Light by the throat, pinning her down. One spotted me and was soon upon me, my body was too weak to fight back. Instead of pinning me by the throat, like the other was doing with Light, it grabbed me and pushed my head into a pothole; filled with rainwater from the most recent shower. I struggled as the water flooded into my mouth, I kicked and bit down into its hand, but Machamp had mutated in a way that negated pain. They had no feelings or emotions. It was for this reason that they were known as the Frozen. Cold hearted killers, right down to the core. I could feel my life draining as I began to drown in this pothole. From the surface I saw Light form a rifle and laced a shot through the Frozen's head that had me pinned. I felt the crushing pressure release on my neck, I pulled my head up to the surface and I gasped for air. I look to Light just as I saw the Frozen incapacitate her. I growled and was ready to throw myself at it, but that's when I felt the pipe come down onto my skull. The world spun around me, light began fading from the world. That's when I lost consciousness.


	3. Chapter 2

****Chapter 2****

_'There is no stability without solidarity and no solidarity without stability.' – **Jose Manuel Barrosso**_

* * *

I stared up at the moonlit sky; the obsidian, sun-starved abyss, scattered with kisses of stars from the great frontier beyond. I rolled over in my sleeping bag, the floorboards of the put-me-up home that I resided in dug into my back. I sighed out in discomfort. As I climbed out of my bed I glanced over to Prometheus, my best friend; a Charizard, and when an Umbreon hangs around with a Charizard in this day and age; well, you get looks of disapproval and even mistrusted, often times; you're treated like a raider. I smiled as his tail burned brightly, illuminating the claustrophobic room that encapsulated us. I walked over to him, my paws pressing against the warm, rugged floorboards around him, I laid down next to him and whispered into his ear, which twitched as I spoke. I smiled at this and laid next to him, his wing acted like a soft cushion in which to lay on. His body was warm and his skin was soft, like a pillow. All these luxuries didn't exist when you stayed in abandoned shacks across the Royal Wasteland. This additional comfort allowed me to drift off to sleep.  
It was here in the back of my mind, that I was free and happy. Where dreams were created, and viewed like that of a cinema that had surround sound and comfy chairs; very few cinemas were like this anymore though. As I was watching a dream about the time where Prometheus and I had stumbled upon a freezer full of ice-cream that was still edible, I couldn't help but smile at this wonderful relived memory. I closed my eyes, in my dreams, and reminisced, and as I opened them again the cinema's comfort was gone and replaced with the cold, dead world outside. I was back in Sievert, the small shanty town that was built by Pokémon to shelter the local community of Euston Square. It was as though I watched myself from afar. I recognised myself in a crowd of Umbreon, Manectrics, Flareon and even the odd occasional Unfeazants, the Umbreon, however, were stood separate, we were being selected. I looked as my blue-blooded rings glistened through the crowd of ordinary yellow-blooded Umbreon that stifled me as they all called out to the group of Umbreon before them.  
"I remember this!" I hissed at myself quietly. I watched the group of uneasy Umbreon that basked in the glow of the crowd's affection. That's when I saw the peculiar, meticulous purple blooded Umbreon step forward.  
"If you want to join us in our fight please talk to Light" he gestured to a lightly armoured Umbreon beside them. "But we are only looking for one new member." That's when I saw movement in the crowd, and particularly, my movement; and Prometheus'. I noticed he had a hold of my tail, preventing me from going forward. I could see myself shouting at him, begging him to let go; and that's when the Green-blooded one stepped forward. I could hear her voice echo through me to this day.  
"My name is Vauxhall and I wish to join the Umbrage Commandos!" They took her from the crowd and they asked her questions; she never came back to Sievert again, she was accepted and I was denied – by my best friend. I sat in silence for a moment, tears built up at my eyes, creating pressure like steam; my eyes were forced closed.  
"Wake up." I heard an omniscient voice that came from nowhere.  
"Why?" I asked the voice back. I opened my eyes and I looked up.  
"Wake up!" the voice now had a body, a cadaver was more precise.

My heart raced and my mind panicked as it tried to make sense of the scene it just saw. I saw Prometheus stood above me, watching me. He smiled comfortingly at me and shook his head.  
"Same dream as before?" he spoke in a soft, amiable tone, as always, he understood me. I nodded with a distant look as I planned out the day. But the thought of where that group of Umbreon were right now and how they were doing, and also how Vauxhall was doing – I checked my wrist. The small watch that sat on my leg was complex by design. It was in sync with my brain waves, allowing me to do whatever my brain desired. It was like a highly complex computer shrunk down and put on a strap. Which was fastened around my wrist. It was as close to a god as you could get. The Nuero-Nav; but I wasn't looking to this watch that behaved like an artificial intelligence, for some scientifically advanced answer, I was looking to it for the simplest reason; the time.  
"9 in the morning. Sun's just freshly risen. Much like I." I muttered breathlessly to myself. "We need to head out to the supermarket down the road and try to scavenge as much food as possible." I spoke sullenly; very little emotion slipped through my dry lips.  
"You mean the Morrisons that's about 2 miles from here?" Prometheus expressed his objections to this idea.  
"We have no choice, the closest supermarket from here is picked clean. We have to pack up and move to a location closer to the commercial district." I sighed. I was starting to like this home too. It had a sense of security, and moving closer to the commercial area meant mutants. Lots of them.

About an hour passed as we packed up the bare minimum needed to move. We said our goodbyes to the building that had kept us safe for the last 12 months of our lives, and we began our trek 2 miles to the nearest supermarket. I looked down to my Nuero-Nav and requested a map of London to help us navigate through the winding and, mostly, rubble-littered roads. A holographic display emanated from the Nuero-Nav, presenting me all the local maps of the area, giving me information on all the buildings, I smiled and walked alongside Prometheus checking the maps every so often when a turning presented itself to us. We scouted around the abandoned buildings as we travelled, seeing if there were any buildings that weren't scavenged and picked clean. Our searches were all to no avail.

After about a mile, trouble happened upon us. We could see a pack of Hellions, a term used mainly by the military to describe the dreadful mutation that took the population of Persian, most Persian were calm and only looked ratted and decaying, Hellions was merely the name given to those Persian who's minds had decayed past all reason, thus killing anyone who wasn't a Hellion or a Persian. They were stalking one of the ruins of a cathedral and there was no way of going around.  
"Prometheus, we need to handle this together." I whispered to him, he simply nodded and responded with an agitated exasperation of air.  
"What do you suggest we do?" his voice hinted a tone of anger, I needed him to remain cool-headed, I couldn't have him run into a crowd of Hellion thrashing about, it'd be suicide. I glanced around us, looking desperately for a solution. That's when I spotted the roof adjacent to the cathedral; looking right into the hole of the foundation of the Cathedral where the Hellion were gathering, and that's when I smirked at Prometheus.  
"We have to take them out silently." I whispered again as I looked down to my Nuero-Nav, a silenced scoped rifle would do the trick, as soon as the thought appeared, so did the rifle, emanating from the Nuero-Nav, much like the map. To shoot, all I had to do was think.  
"Let me guess Nympheas. You want me to fly you up to that roof, where you will take out the Hellions as I draw them out of the building?" He spoke with a manner that almost sounded questioning.  
"Very good Prometheus, now are you in or what?" I held out my paw.  
"I never said I wasn't" He bumped my paw with his wing and then scooped me off my legs and swiftly dropped me off on the rooftop with the best view of the building. "Just don't miss a shot" and as fast as he spoke; he was well on his way down to the front of the building moving swift; like a bullet. He grounded and stood before the Hellions, presenting himself, his wings were spread as a precaution. That's when I positioned myself with my leg laid on top of the low-lying wall that encircled the roof. I had a clear line of sight of the whole scene. I just now had to wait for them to take the bait. That's when I saw their red eyes in the dark gloom of the building. That's when I bit my lip and clenched my right eye shut. I started to control my breathing, keeping my heart rate in check. I adjusted my scope for wind direction, which was handily displayed by my Nuero-Nav.  
"I'm ready for you" I whispered to nobody. The first Hellion ran out of the building and, as though it were programmed to, the gun shot and then bolted itself. (Oh the handiness of having thought controlled weapons). The next Hellion darted from the murk of the ruined architecture. My mind quickly responded and laced a shot through its skull. The blood sprayed just high enough to be caught by the sun above the buildings' shadows; the blood red gore glistened as it pasted itself against the wall. The gun bolted. That's when I saw 4 more pairs of eyes appear. One by one they ran out and I quickly dispatched them. Their blood splashed across the road as they fell dead to the pavement. I aimed my sights on the final one that lunged at Prometheus, I shot it before its teeth could make contact. That's when I heard him call out in disgust.

After Prometheus pulled me off the roof he complained for the whole mile walk to the Morrisons supermarket. Only about how I covered him in the Hellion's blood though, not complaints about his feet hurting or that he's hungry. Nothing silly.  
"It's just a bit of blood Prometheus, you've had it on you before." I giggled at his complaints.  
"Yeah! Yours!" I sighed as he reminded me of the time I had my foot caught in a toothed clamp trap.  
"That was only once Prometheus and besides, blood's blood." After that he had nothing to say, that's when I saw the movement at Angel station. Then I heard the shots and saw the flashes of light erupt out of the station's foyer. "Get behind something" I hissed at Prometheus behind me. We dived behind a ruined window frame, the glass was replaced with nothing but a large hole in the stone foundations. I peered through it, my wrist wrested on the windowsill, my rifle's scopes aimed at the train station.  
My heart rose to my throat when I saw what I did. It wasn't bandits or Royalists. All I saw was a heavily bandaged Umbreon on the back of another Umbreon accompanied by another. As soon as the wounded Pokémon was dropped by the one carrying them, I saw the carrier's green rings and my heart raced.  
"Vauxhall" I whispered to myself.  
"What?!" Prometheus shouted with a hushed voice. I didn't say anything else, I was taken aback by seeing her again, watching her shooting Hellions with the Yellow-blooded Umbreon. I watched as they held off until dawn. I even watched as they laughed with each other throughout the early morning. I smiled knowing an old friend has become someone who is powerful and capable of helping themselves.  
"Come on. We should probably find somewhere to rest." I slapped Prometheus awake as I spoke. He grunted and I took that as him agreeing. I smiled and my rifle became the holomap again.

We walked for a good 20 minutes before finding suitable accommodation at a tiny apartment building. It wasn't huge, nor was it much to look at. But it was sure inviting. I allowed Prometheus to lead. After we decided the building was clear, we set up our sleeping bags and settled down for a nap.

My night was dreamless, the theatre that was my mind was closed and my night was not quite restless but it was far from refreshing. Prometheus snored loudly to the right of me as I sat up to greet the rising sun. Today was the day we were going to go scavenge what food we could from the Morrisons nearby. I budged Prometheus with my paw and hissed at him softly. "Prometheus, get up. We need to get an early start just in case there's-" that's when he grabbed my mouth with his hand, silencing me.  
"Would you keep quiet. I'm trying to-" he sat up, "Do you hear that?" He flattened his ear against the wall.  
"No, I do not." I said bluntly.  
"Shush!" He hissed at me and peered out around the window next to the wall he had his ear flattened against. "Oh sweet oak!" he exclaimed with a whisper.  
"What? Hellion?" I bluntly replied. I grew more impatient as this charade went on.  
"Worse." His angst made me stir. I'd never seen him so anxious. "You know those Umbreon we saw last night?"  
"What about them?" I spoke with a more urgent tone, trying to get him to speak.  
"I don't think they're gonna be with the living much longer." As he spoke I could feel worry rising inside of me, stirring the contents of my stomach and mixing all my feelings together; ultimately creating a numb feeling across my body. I shoved him out of the way and peered out of the window myself. I gasped as I saw the heavily wounded Umbreon from last night being drowned slowly in a pothole as Vauxhall ran off across a lifeless field and finally the yellow-blooded one being pinned against the wall.  
"We have to help them!" I shouted at Prometheus, begging him to rush out there ruthlessly, wanting desperately to help them.  
"Why? They're just stragglers. They'd just slow us down and hold us back if we helped them." His condescending tone crushed me a little on the inside, "Besides, why do you care so much? It's not like you know them." His blatant tone took me aback. Why did I care? I recognised Vauxhall, but she's not in trouble. So why do I want to help those two? I didn't know them, no, but something was recognisable about them. I just couldn't quite put my paw on it. That's when I heard the gunshot. I poked my head out of the window and saw the heavily bandaged one pull himself up from the pothole. Then I saw the rifle spawn from out of nowhere. My jaw dropped and as the pipe came down onto his head a bandage fell off of his leg, and the Purple ring shone through.  
"They're the Umbrage Commando's." I said all too matter-of-factly.  
"That group of paramilitary Umbreon that came to Sievert a week before we left?" he intuitively quizzed me. "I guess if Vauxhall were with them then I'd see why you'd care. But she's not. So we're not risking life and limb for some strangers." I stared at the floor as I knew he was right. I didn't enjoy the feeling of being so intelligently irrational. It felt weird being reckless and being contained; I was normally the one who contained Prometheus' recklessness, but suddenly the tables had turned.  
After an hour passed and the Machamp, the army of Frozen souls, had dragged off the 2 helpless Umbreon to Arceus knows where, we decided to head out to the Morrisons we had come to Angel to scavenge from.

The whole half-a-mile walk to the archaic supermarket was riddled with dreading prophecies of what happened to the Umbrage Commandos. Were they killed? Are they the next meal for the Army of Frozen souls? Where were they taken? The more I thought of it the less responsive my Nuero-Nav was. Prometheus stopped at the entrance to the supermarket, something seemed off about it. It felt cold, looked dead and definitely did not seem inviting.  
"Wait here Nymph. I'm going to poke my head through the door and see if the coast is clear." He spoke with confidence. I watched as he poked his head around the door and slowly proceeded his way back over to me. "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"  
"What's the bad news?" I asked, confused and wondering what could be lurking in that supermarket.  
"The coast isn't clear." His smile that followed looked hollow and hoaxed.  
"The good news? Lemme guess, raiders? Giant Caterpie? What is it?" I quizzed him.  
"We're going to save that paramilitary group after all." His smile definitely seemed forced after those words, "yay." The lack of enthusiasm that Prometheus was showing had now answered my question. The Machamp are holed up in the Morrisons.

* * *

I woke from my concussed slumber. The room danced across my vision, colour was faded and the lack of it disorientated me. The smell of iron penetrated my nose. I wrinkled my face up at it. I pondered on where the smell could be originating from. I saw a bag next to me, I was about to pull the lip of the bag down to see what was inside of it, when I saw movement next to me. I glanced down at Light who had been trying to regain her sense of direction and sight.  
"Light? Are you okay? Where are we?" I asked her with an almost inaudible whisper.  
"I'm unsure. The last thing I remember is the Frozen attacking us." I thought back to that moment, and then the pain of my head rang back through me. I clutched at the back of my head and felt the cut across the top of my neck. I cursed under my breath as the pain of it was unbearable.  
"What's that smell?" Light asked as she sniffed at the air.  
"I don't know for sure, all I know is that it's emanating from this bag." I wrinkled my nose as the metallic scent attacked my senses. I put my paw on the bag, it was cold and wet to the touch, I started to slide the lip of the bag down when I heard the heavy footsteps outside the door. "Light, play dead." I hissed at her as I flattened myself across the floor silently, she followed as I instructed. I felt her paw touch mine, it sent a pulsating wave of emotions down my body; they occupied every limb of my body. I felt confused and lost for a moment, but I was pulled back to reality as I heard the screaming enter the room.  
"Put me down! Help! Someone help me!" I heard the instruments on the table rattle as the origins of the voice was slammed down onto it – hard. The voice cried out in pain.  
"Please don't kill me! Please! I have a family!" the voice begged and pleaded with its captor. "Please! I don't want to die! I don't-" the voice was silenced in a matter of seconds. I felt something roll to my feet and I cringed as I forced my body not to react.  
When the captor, which I could only presume was the Frozen, left the room I sat up to inspect the item that tapped my paw. It was a head. Not just any head; it was the head of Holborn. I wanted to scream out in fear, but knew I couldn't. Not if I wanted to live. In desperation I pulled back the lip of the back to find lumps of meat – red, bloody, raw. I gagged; as did Light. The most distinguishing feature of the meat was not the blood that dripped from the freshly butchered meat, but instead it was the black fur that was still on the carrion. The yellow ring that lay, dim and lifeless on the meat, the yellow blood inside of it leaking out across the meat. It was enough to make anyone vomit instantaneously.  
"We have to get out of here Light. Before this happens to us"  
"Agreed." She answered quickly and with a quaver of fear ringing in her voice.  
I peered my head out of the peeling doorway and studied the area we were in. I saw rows of shelves in a dimly lit, open area. "It looks like we're in a scavenger-centre" I spoke softly and quietly so that our presence wouldn't be made immediate to the Frozen.  
"What time of day does it look like from the filtration of the light through the window?" Light asked me, mimicking my soft tone.  
"Late; about mid-afternoon - early evening." She nodded to my response.  
"So that means we could slip out of here undetected. The Frozen sleep in the evening."  
"But is it that late in the afternoon Light? Or is it closing in on that time, meaning that they could still be up and wandering around?" She wrinkled her whole facial expression at my question. It threw her plan out of the window.  
We snuck out of the room we were contained in and hid behind a counter. I peered through one of the holes in the wood and saw one of the Frozen pacing; he had a rifle strapped across his shoulder. I relayed this information to Light and she had no words to speak. I saw more of the Frozen spread out across the room. Most were sleeping, it looks like it might be soon that all the Frozen sleep for the night, but obviously there's some sort of hierarchy in this infamous community. Some slept earlier than others. I saw two of them talking in the corner of the room – next to our only immediate exit.  
"Dammit. They're blocking the exit." I cursed under my breath. "What do you suggest Light?"  
"We could just try our luck and try and shoot our way out?" she sounded unsure of herself, as if the final moments of Holborn's life was still eating at her psyche.  
"Too risky. There's at least 30 of them and 2 of us. We'd be killed." And as though some omnipotent being had heard and seen our predicament the glass on the east window shattered and one of the heads of the Frozen guards exploded across the wall. I watched in disbelief and amazement as another shot was fired, resulting in another fatality on the Frozen's part. That's when they started shooting back, they flooded out of the building, leaving us a perfect opportunity for escape.  
I took a step out from behind the counter and darted across the aisles. As I slid across the dusty laminated floor I saw something glowing faintly from the end of one of the aisles. I stopped myself. Peered around the corner and saw Keeves. He was bound and stuffed at the end of the aisle near an open fire. I darted down the aisle and un-bound him.  
"Razz! Oh in the name of Arceus am I glad to see you! Where's Light!?" he paused for a moment as he saw her reveal her whereabouts from behind the shelving unit. "Light! You're alive! Good. That means Razz isn't as incompetent as I thought." In any other instance I would've bit back at his bait. But as I untied him I saw burn marks, bite marks, huge gashes of flesh missing from his body. Instead of anger and hatred; I felt sympathy for him.  
"Keeves, I need you to stop moving and talking." I covered his wounds with some binding I found on the shelf; right next to us. "You need to reserve your energy or you're going to die" Light and I lifted him, pulling his weight onto both of our shoulders. I hadn't realised but the firing had stopped. The silence was misery. I could hear Keeves whine in agony as we moved him out the front door.

To my amazement we weren't shot by Frozen soldiers; no, they were all dead. Fire burned across the street in front of us and bullet holes riddled the corpses of the fallen enemy soldiers. I jumped when I heard a familiar voice.  
"You need to follow us! We can get your friend patched up!" the bearer of the mysterious voice was a blue-blooded Umbreon stood beside a shadow that shifted off before I could identify it. The Umbreon had ran off ahead of us. Light and I started to try to catch up as we hauled Keeves agonisingly down the road. That's when a Charizard had pulled Keeves onto their back and followed the blue-blooded Umbreon. Light and I shrugged at each other and broke off into a sprint; following our mysterious saviours, whom we owed our lives to.

After several hours of on-and-off running, our group of pick-'n'-mix saviours decided to camp us all down inside of a musty home with crusted wallpaper, charred hard-wood flooring and windows that were open, even when closed. But it was high off the ground, which meant we would know if someone was coming for us, partly because the stairs were a task in themselves to climb, let alone silently sneak up. The blue-blooded Umbreon, who I had deduced as the leader of these two, shifted her eyes across Light, Keeves and I. She spoke finally.  
"Is this it from your group?"  
"Yeah, I mean, originally there were only 3 of us… but one of our original group abandoned us and then that's when we found Keeves…Who…" I was interrupted before I could ask who they were.  
"They abandoned you? The green Umbreon I saw with you guys at the angel station?!" she interrupted.  
"Where?" I stared at her, confused as to what she was talking about. Angel station? Clearly she meant a subway station. But I don't remember it. That's when Light spoke.  
"She means the station that we nearly died outside of a couple of days ago." She sighed.  
"Vauxhall abandoned you guys?!" I stared at this Blue-blooded stranger in disbelief.  
"You know Vauxhall's name?" I questioned. "How?!" My weak state left me cautious of everyone, especially strangers who know my friend's name; I manifested a pistol.  
"Razz! What are you doing?!" Light shouted at me, but as much as she shoved my body into the wall, grazing me, I did not drop my Umbrage.  
"Speak!" I cocked the weapon. Light bit into my back, trying to make my concentration waver to destroy the Umbrage. I flinched and felt my blood dribble down my back.  
"I was her friend in Sievert! You were there, looking for someone to join your cause!" the blue-blood had her eyes closed, she was cowered in a corner. I lowered my Umbrage as the answer satisfied me. That's when I feel Light's teeth slide out of my flesh. I flinched as my blood started to cascade down my back. I bite my lip and expressed, to Light, my lack of appreciation of her biting me.  
"Sorry Razz. You were being irrational." She flattened her ears against her neck and began fiddling through her pack for the bandages.  
"I'm sorry; I still don't know your name" I paused as I struggled to put pressure on my now bleeding back. "It might help me talk to you without this social stigma between us"  
"The name's Nympheas, but you can call me Nymph" she spoke indifferently.  
"Nymph…gotcha." I had no need for anymore words, not only did my body scream at me to stop working so hard and to take a break, but my throat was growing dry and my stomach growled.  
After we ate our tinned peaches, we settled down for the night, on the cold hard-wood floor. My back cried at me as the wood dug into both my spine and the fresh bite wound Light left. I bit my lip and soldiered through the night, cold and uncomfortable, though it was.  
I was awoken the next morning by the prominent and obnoxious sound of thunder rolling over the small suburban town we were holed up in. The rain slapped the concrete outside and bombarded the roof of the building we had slept in. I sat up and glanced through the small window just behind Nymph and the Charizard, whose name I am still unfamiliar with. I watched the sky crying above us, the flashes of lightning lit up the darkened world, the thunder became comfortably ambient, roaring every few minutes. I put my paw out the window and allowed the rain to slap my leg. I heard someone stirring awake behind me, mumbling and yawning as they stretched the 6 hours of sleep out of their bodies. I slowly reeled my paw in and turned to see Light sat up watching me, her normally alert eyes looked tired and old.  
"Thunder wake you up?" She spoke with a soft innocent tone.  
"It was that or the pain of splintered wooden floorboards keeping my bite wounds open" I muttered to her as she walked towards me. As soon as she was close enough, she placed a paw on my back and inspected my wounds.  
"These bandages need changing Razz"  
"If I didn't know any better Light, I would say you were worried about me" I chuckled as I bit my lip, her paw so close to my wounds sent surges of pain through my body. My body shook from it. "So I've been torn to shreds by Hellion, had my skull bashed in by the Frozen, as well as nearly drowned in a puddle, and I've been grazed, bruised and bitten by you. All in a matter of two days. Huh?" she shoved me away from her gently and giggled softly, but her smile changed to a look of remorse.  
"I'm sorry Razz…" she whispered under a breath.  
"What for? Biting me?" I tilted my head and took up a look of confusion "you don't need to be sorry for that."  
"Not for that" she paused. "Well yes okay, for that. But for lots of other things." She stared out the window as she spoke.  
"Like what Light?" I was now more confused than ever. She sighed before speaking.  
"Don't worry Razz" She watched the rain and the lightning outside. I was going to press the conversation more, but as I opened my mouth I heard Nympheas stirring awake and stretching the night out of her muscles.  
"Prometheus. What's the time?" she spoke through the groan of a stretch. That's when the Charizard (that I now presumed is called Prometheus) spoke.  
"Does it matter Nymph, there's a storm." I chortled under my breath. But that's when I realise that Prometheus had woke up and been awake without me realising. A good skill to have, when you're someone of his size, is to be quiet and, apparently, he is.

The day passed as the storm raged on outside. We were stuck in the shelter of the house with no food, a diminishing water supply and a deck of cards that led to the least creative game of go-fish ever played.  
"Ugh…I hate being stuck inside." Nympheus was complaining again about the confinement of the house and the stifling, stale air that hung around us, slowly trying to choke us on dust and our own moulting fur.  
"Well sadly, I don't like being out in storms when most of the rain is highly acidic due to the radioactivity in the clouds" Prometheus' response to her complaints got nothing more than a disgruntled mumble of agreement. I sniggered at the lack of rebellion to his response. As soon as I realised that no-one was going to spark up an intriguing conversation I started to change the bandages covering my wounds, mainly from the still-open-wounds from the attack that Light, Vauxhall and I experienced in the underground tunnels.  
As I tied off the last clean bandage and fastened it with a safety pin, I heard gunshots echo outside. I peered my head out the window to see a small group ducking behind ruins and loosing off shots down the street. Before my head was pulled back inside I could make out a Flareon and that's when it clicked.  
"That's The Royalists!" I whispered harshly  
"Who are they shooting at then?!" Light responded with the same harsh whisper.  
"I don't know…The New Parliamentarians?" I shrugged.  
"Possibly…wait; listen." We stopped talking and listened.  
"I don't hear anything" I was confused the gunfire literally stopped at a moment's notice.  
"Exactly" Light continued, "Where did they go? And why have they stopped?" That's when we heard the footsteps coming up the stairs that led to the room we were hiding in. I bit my lip as there was nowhere for us to hide. We were cornered by Royalists or by who they were shooting at. I formed an Umbrage Rifle to make one last desperate attempt to live just a little bit longer. That's when I saw Vauxhall limp around the corner and collapse in the doorway. I lowered my weapon and peered out the window to find all The Royalists dead. I dragged Vauxhall in and, with our last few bandages, patched her wounds up and pulled the bullet out of her leg, she was fairly resistant to my aid, especially as I had Light pin her down so I could get the knife into the wound and behind the bullet to pop it out of her flesh and muscle. As she cried out in pain I pricked her with a syrette of precious morphine to quench her pain.

Hours passed after Vauxhall passed out, her green ring on her leg glowed dimly in the night as the ring was punctured by the bullet, the green blood in the ring mixed with the red blood that circulated her body. I sat with her, checking her condition. She came too when I spoke softly to myself.  
"What luck I have." She spoke weakly and quietly to me. "I came up here expecting to bleed and die. Not have a knife plunged into my wound and have a bullet extracted from me." This got a chuckle from me.  
"Yeah? Well, you're lucky to not have been shot and killed by those Royalists." She placed her paw on mine as she began slipping from consciousness.  
"I didn't want to abandon you guys…I just didn't know what else there was for me to do. You were being drowned in a puddle, Light was being choked out…" she stopped talking as a lump formed in her throat. "You don't hate me do you?" I shook my head.  
"No. I don't hate you Vauxhall. I don't blame you for running. Why have us all die right?" She smiled at my response.  
"Thanks Razz" she sat up and kissed me on the cheek and fell asleep, hugging my leg. I raised my brow and waved the kiss off as her being drugged up on morphine still. I slowly and reluctantly made my way to my sleeping bag and curled up, watching the moon, almost feeling its light kissing my body better. I smiled and slowly slipped into an almost comatose state of sleep, though at the back of my mind, that kiss from Vauxhall began playing and toying with me.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_"Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."_ ~ **Mother Teresa**

* * *

I awoke and sat up in the early, low-light gloom that enveloped the room. I glanced my eyes over to Vauxhall who was still asleep; her wounds had bled through the night, the scarlet kisses against the canvas that was the bandages caressing her body shone through like ink against crisp, white paper. That's when I noticed Nympheas sat up and watching me, it sent a sudden shiver down my spine.  
"Good morning…" I spoke cautiously and quietly to avoid waking everyone else. She shot me a stare with a raised brow and replied.  
"Don't act like you didn't try and shoot me yesterday. How's Vauxhall?" Her final question was spoken in a softer, caring tone.  
"She'll live, if she keeps the wounds and the bandages clean." This earned me a scoff. Nymph turned her back on me and started speaking to Prometheus (whom I hadn't originally noticed was awake). I made my way, solemnly, over to Vauxhall and sat beside her as she slept. She was notably shaking as she slept; I placed a paw on her head and shot it back as I could instantly feel her fever. I cursed under my breath and called to a half-awake Light.  
"You haven't got any fever medication in that medical box by any chance Light?"  
"Why would I have fever medication? I think we have a larger chance of getting shot and bleeding than catching the flu…" Her tone grew more irritable and sarcastic as she spoke, "Why?" Light sighed.  
"Because Vauxhall's not gonna last long without the proper medication."

After mention of Vauxhall's fever, it was decided that we should scavenge the nearby pharmacy for any potential medication. Light volunteered to keep a watchful eye on her.  
I stood, staring at Nympheas as she studied the local maps on the device she kept fastened around her leg. I took the break as an ample time to test out the Umbrage-Tech Prototype (or UTP). I admired the intricate design of the bracer-esque device. I clasped it around my leg and felt it's weight as I lifted it. The strap of the device fastened itself around my leg, like a clamp. The main interface responded only to my umbrage. I formed an umbrage in the shape of a pen and tapped the screen, but the screen remained blank. I wrinkled my brow and examined the top of the device. There was a slot that simply read Umbrage. I shrugged and slid the pen into the slot. Suddenly the device lit up and I felt a surge of negative energy through my body. I saw on the screen: Umbrage Formations. As soon as I read the words in my head the interface switched to a new screen and I saw a list of words, topping the list was the word: Rifle. Again, as soon as the thought was completed an Umbrage Rifle formed instantly in front of me. A smile scoured my face. I looked back to the UTP and saw another tab: Armour. Instantly, the tab opened.  
"Oh this is cool!" I laughed to myself. The first option read: Light. I was instantly enshrouded by negative energy and suddenly I had more than one large umbrage formed. A rifle AND body armour. Somehow, this small device had enhanced my (as the UTP called it) Energia. Which meant I could focus less energy on my formation of umbrages, allowing me to stabilise multiple ones at once. I also suddenly had something called Umbrage-Tech Assisted Energia Targeting System (or U.A.E.T.S.). I gave it a quick test and it instantly focused all my energia onto a target, giving me the illusive feeling that time had slowed around me, giving me time to precisely choose my shots and take a more tactical outlook on my gunfights. I bit a smile off my lips as I pulled out of the zen state of U.A.E.T.S., as I did so I could see Nympheas staring at me with a curious expression detailing her face.  
"I said are you ready to go? The pharmacy's just around the corner and you've just been staring at your wrist for 10 minutes." Her words sat with an intone; like she was questioning my behaviour. With good reason I suppose, it's not every day you see an Umbreon staring at their wrist for 10 minutes; laughing, on occasion, to themselves.  
"Yes I'm ready. You lead the way, I'll cover the rear. If I see any trouble; you'll know." The cynical tone that guided my words was unintentional; I didn't mean for my words to sound like I was mistrusting her. I had no reason to.  
After a short 5 minute walk we found our way into the shopping centre that would have been bustling with business and happy shoppers before the bombs dropped. I looked down the eerie and silent streets; lined with empty, looted shop windows framed with shards of glass, glistening as the early morning sun glazed the street. The early morning mist kissed at my paws, hiding the cobblestone street beneath a blanket of water vapour that reflected the light of the sun. Making the street seem darker than it actually was.  
The whole atmosphere of the street screamed danger; anything could be lurking in those stores, and I wasn't prepared to find out what that might be, in my current state, a small horde of Hellions would take me down. Or would they? U.A.E.T.S. might just give me the slight edge I needed, and who knows how well this armour has me encased in a vessel of invulnerability. For all I know; I'm untouchable. I levelled my rifle in front of me and watched Nymph cross the street; watching for any movement, if anything came for her – bang – dead. As soon as her paw stepped through the blown out doorway of the pharmacy I saw someone moving in the building next to her. I focused on the movement. I could only make out their silhouette, I couldn't tell if it was a Hellion or another Pokémon.  
"Dammit; If only this rifle had a scope…" I muttered under my breath; Nymph had noticed my focus on the building next door. She hid inside the pharmacy, probably as a precaution; in case there were hostile pokémon. That's when a thought came to mind. The UTP; it may have a scoped rifle formation in the standard rifle prints. To my luck; it did! The scoped rifle formed and I could see inside the building and I could see clearly that these Pokémon were threats. Not Hellions but Ratters.  
The Ratters are a raider group comprised of Rat Pokémon; mainly Ratticate and Rattata's, and, to end my luck, they had seen me too.

The shots echoed down the streets and the bullets sprayed through the wooden barricades behind the window frames; spraying splinters of wood and filling my ears with the sound of bullets hitting concrete walls. I was pinned down. I got 2 or 3 shots off before I took refuge behind the counter. The last glimpse I got of the Ratters was a swarm of 20 of them erupting from the store across the street like slavers to a wounded girl. The Ratters had gained similar abilities to us Umbrage Commandos; they could manipulate neutral energies in the world. I was lucky that they hadn't learned how to aim, but with 20 of them shooting at one target; spraying and praying was an efficient method.  
I was lucky enough to accidentally discover the armour feature on the UTP; the bullets that hit me before I was able to find cover didn't puncture the armour and I came out relatively unscathed. The Ratters' shots stopped filling the air above me and I took my chance; I poked my head out from behind the counter, aimed down the scope of my rifle and pulled the trigger. I managed to take down 3 of the Ratters; painting the walls a wet, crimson behind them. I decided to truly use my time effectively and slipped into U.A.E.T.S. and targeted the 3 Ratters who had reloaded their weapons and were preparing to send a flurry of bullets back in my general direction. I confirmed my targets; 3 shots to their heads and 2 shots to the chest on the 4th Ratter (who had ran into view as the interface of my U.A.E.T.S. was projected in-front of me), this would leave me with enough bullets to oppress the other Ratters as I slipped back behind cover.  
"Let's do this" confidently, I peered up and out of cover and laced off all of my shots with perfect accuracy, their blood spraying and disorientating the Ratters behind them, this gave me time. I quickly laced off my final few shots, wounding several Ratters. I again took to laying behind the counter and waiting for my next chance. I waited; 30 seconds passed, no bullets were assaulting my position or rudely protruding through the wood of the counter. I was confused. Were they waiting? Do they have a sniper positioned to shoot me as soon as I poked my head out? Out of curiosity I pulled the combat knife out of the holster I kept on my hind-left leg and cut a hole out of the counter with the blade in my mouth. I peered out through the new hole and saw a whole new enemy; explaining why the shooting had stopped.

As soon as the giant had left the high-street I hightailed my way across to the pharmacy where I could see Nymph staring slack-jawed out the front window.  
"Get your ass in here now!" She silently, called out to me. Her words sounded rushed and panicked. "You saw it right? You saw the giant bastard?"  
"I did yes" I furrowed my bow, "What was that?" worry took my voice as I spoke.  
"They're called Mega Mutations. You recall when you were little and your grandparents would tell you stories as we sat in The Caves waiting for the doors to open? You know, about the Mega evolutions that certain Pokémon could go through 'back-in-the-day?" I nodded along as she spoke, "well that was a Tyranitar after it's been mutated in very much the same way. Just forget a special stone and add some heavy doses of radiation."  
"Radiation turns Pokémon into 20 foot mutants that would install fear into the hearts of all Pokémon around?" My voice faltered as I spoke, not only was I attempting to catch my breath after sprinting across the street, but I was also still in shock from seeing that giant walk, without a care, down a street which I originally mistook for Ratter territory; obviously I was wrong.

To our luck, the pharmacy was still rich with surplus amounts of medicinal brews, tablets, sweets; and potent shots for various vaccinations. Nympheas had loaded her burlap sack with anti-inflammatories and antibiotics whilst I looked around the store for anything useful. I turned my gaze to a door just behind the front counter. 'Staff Only'. I cautiously made my way to the door only to discover it was locked.  
"Bollocks" I sat, staring at the door for a moment, considering my options. "Hang on…" I spoke quietly to myself again, Nympheas was probably considering the plausibility of my sanity. Hell, who is sane nowadays, right? Pokémon killing each other for a few scraps of food, or metal, or liquor; it was insane and ludicrous! Nothing about this world we called life was sane anymore. We didn't live; we existed (trust me, there's a difference). I gathered myself again, pulling myself from the thoughts that clouded my mind. I needed to focus; for Vauxhall. I looked down at the UTP, opened a tab labelled Tools. Inside this tab was just what I was after. A bobby pin and a screwdriver. The Umbrage formed and I took control of the tools I wanted (no; needed). I pushed the pin into the lock, fumbled the screwdriver into place and began knocking the tumblers of the locking mechanism into place, trying to keep the pin from breaking. As vast as my Energia was; I still had a limit. And exceeding the limit could be fatal. The blissful click of the final tumbler locking in place filled me with joy. I withdrew the lock-picking kit and re-formed my rifle. My curiosity had paid off well; behind the door was a large medical box, shelves full of behind-the-counter medicines that the old years deemed too potent for the use of the general population, the whole prescription matter didn't apply after the apocalypse however. I took several boxes of adrenaline and a box of extra strong (and addictive!) antibiotics. That's when a lockbox with a label that read 'Mentos', my curiosity piqued. I reacquired my lock-picking tools and opened the case with ease. Inside were several unlabelled boxes full of white tablets. I tried one; and suddenly the world seemed so much clearer. The fog that had filtered in from the streets appeared to have vanished, my mind flooded with intelligent thoughts. That's when I heard the buzzing of a computer monitor, and the light tapping of Nympheas' paws on the laminated floors of the main body of the pharmacy. I approached the terminal.  
"Password", I sighed, "of course you need a password." I bit the back of my ankle as I thought. If I were a pharmacist what would my password be? Something clever? Maybe; but you didn't have to be clever to work behind the counter of a pharmacy. The answer was right in front of me.  
"Mentos why else would it be the ONLY labelled product back here."  
The computer had opened with ease, oh how clever I am? Who ever said I, Razz, the one and only, couldn't have skills in the art of deduction. The computer's only noteworthy file was a text log from a couple of days before the world went into a perpetual Fallout.

"So I have no idea why I came into work today. I also have no idea why I keep this log on the store's computer. What was the reason for this? I dunno; Nancy said it'd be useful at some point. Yeah, useful for making the 5 years I've worked here pass quicker…what a waste of my life. Back to what I was saying. I have no clue why I bothered coming into work, everybody and their pokémon are locked away in those 'Caves' due to the bomb warning that froze the country yesterday. Apparently, the middle-eastern government (what is now IS I think? Or did they go back to ISIS? ISIS sounds creepier; we'll go with that) apparently, they followed through with their threats and have begun a three day nuclear detonation countdown. Why three days? I guess the sick fucks just want us 'infidels' to suffer from anxiety before are skin is burned from our bones and our skeletons are turned to permanent shadows against whatever we're standing in front of at the time. Well; I take solace knowing that my unattractive self will be burdened upon someone somewhere, even if it is in death; ma would be so proud.  
"What time is it? Nearly 10? Well, time for a cuppa tea, a mento and to plaster my fake-ass smile onto my face and stare at the storefront waiting for customers who will never arrive. Goodbye Sylvia, aka me, whom is the only person reading this and, I say with great confidence, the only person who will ever read this. We nearly made it to our 21st birthday. Only 4 days away. Too bad I'll be ash on a wall and in the wind when it comes."  
I sat there, with a melancholic stare as the reality of those final 3 sentences washed over me. Young people who had no money could afford Cave tickets. Meaning they all died…horrifically. I shook the mental image of people and pokémon becoming a mural on a wall as radiation and intense heat melted them into dust, ash, and tar. And I was celebrating over prying into this person's life? Razz – The one and only.  
My mood was ruined by that computer file, why did people just not get on 200 years ago? Life would so much nicer if they did. I let out a disheartened sigh and made my way back out to Nympheas (after procuring a few more boxes of those so-called mentos). Nymph smiled at me as I stepped out from the door behind the counter.  
"Find anything?" She pried.  
"Morphine, antibiotics and adrenaline. Oh, and some things called mentos" the gasp that escaped her lips after hearing the final item worried me.  
"You left those alone right?" Now I really started to worry, "Right, Razz?"  
"Yeah of course" I laughed nervously, why was it important that I left them alone? "Any reason why?"  
"They're highly addictive and the withdrawal from them deteriorates your cognitive ability. Put straightforwardly, they destroy your brain" Now I gasped. If I hadn't have lied I would be pacing back and forth across the pharmacy, voicing my worry. But if I did that; then Nymph would know I had lied and she wouldn't trust me. Crap, why did I never listen to my mother's advice. I could hear her now saying 'Don't eat strange candies that you don't recognise.' I realised that I was too silent. "Should we head back? Vauxhall really needs this medication." Nympheas nodded, but didn't satisfy me with any further words.

Light was over Vauxhall, telling her to hang in there and that everything will be fine. I still don't know what caused her to contract a fever. Was it flu? An infection maybe? That's when I remembered how she ran across the radiation field to get away from the Frozen that kidnapped us. That's when I glanced over to Keeves, who had been too quiet for my liking. I cautiously made my way over to him, just in case he was still asleep. Wouldn't want to startle him and cause him more pain now; or would I? Let's face it – he's always made my life a living hell in; well, hell itself. I stood over him momentarily. He wasn't breathing. I shook my head and placed my paw on his throat, checking for a pulse; like with the computer back at the pharmacy, I did not discover what I had wanted. I let out yet another disheartened sigh, the second of what felt could be many.  
"Light" I called to her and signalled for her to come over.  
"What is it Razz?" she could tell that she would not like my news from the way I had summoned her.  
"It's Keeves – he's dead" she stared at me. But her expression did not show an emotion I had expected. She seemed distant, perhaps she was lost in thought? Or did she just not care? She was still watching me, staring at me with cold, emotionless eyes.  
"I'm going back over to Vauxhall. Don't worry about moving his body. It's not like we intend on staying here for too much longer." I nodded. I understood what I was ordered to do, but did I understand why I was ordered to do so? No, and something told me that Light simply didn't care for Keeves. Maybe she shared my opinion of what kind of character he was.

We stayed for one last night in the decrepit house we had taken refuge in. The night was just as uncomfortable last night as it was the first. Part of the roof had collapsed over Keeves' body, crushing it. Expunging what was left of him and exposing his organs and innards to the room. The stench that fulminated from him was uncanny. I could hear Light and Nymph gagged quietly as they tried to rest. I dreaded to think of how Vauxhall had slept.  
The morning sun had barely risen and the world was still in the early hours ¬of twilight, yet I could make out someone moving around. The green glow gave away their identity and I could feel myself smiling at her recovery, obviously the medicine we gave her helped. She approached me and rocked back onto her haunches and stared at me in the low-light of the early morning.  
"Thanks for looking after me Razz" she sounded aloof, like her mind was elsewhere. "Though my head feels like it's swimming still" she chortled.  
"Don't mention it Vauxhall. It's the least I could do after you saved my life back in that underground station." I smiled at her warmly, though, I wondered, if she saw my smile in the low-light gloom of the morning.  
"Listen" she paused as she spoke, "about that kiss…" before Vauxhall could finish Nympheas awoke and sighed loudly. I swallowed my questions for another moment (discussing this in front of everyone was not suitable). I shot her an understanding look and began addressing Nymph with a polite, yet casual, tone.  
"Good morning Nymph, sleep well?" I beamed my most convincing smile. Nymph, on the other paw, was less cheery.  
"You're awfully happy. Feeling all cheerful and euphoric now that your lover is better?" The bitterness and cynicism in Nymph's words confused me. Why was she acting this way?  
"She's not my lover…" I stared at Nymph, wondering where she may have got that idea from. That's when she mouthed the words I saw. At first this confused me, what did she see? Me and Vauxhall talking? Then it hit me, like most things were over the past couple of days. She saw Vauxhall kiss me a couple of nights ago. I sighed, "It's not what it seemed Nymph"  
"Whatever. I don't care anyway." Now she sighed, "Look you guys seem as though you are no longer in need of help. In fact, you yourself are looking healthier now that your wounds are healing nicely. That and you're now wearing armour and that.." she stopped and stared at the UTP on my wrist, "where did you get that?"  
"This? Well it was developed in Umbrage-Tec labs recently and this is only a prototype. Why do you ask?" I pressed the matter, now my curiosity was piqued by Nymph's curious remarks.  
"It just looks like mine" she flashed off the device, of which I had noted a couple of days ago, on her wrist. "My mother came from one of those Caves and gave this to me on my 10th birthday, said it was my coming of age. That I was now an adult. It really is probably the only reason I stand among you today." I watched her, perplexed by the story that she was telling us. I nodded in acknowledgement of her words, providing her with backchannel to let her know I was listening. She continued. "This device, that I call a Neuro-Nav, was called, by my mother and father, the Tunnel-Boy-3000. But I thought that sounded too boring, and dumb. Hence why I call it the Nuero-Nav, because it's controlled by nerve impulses it detects through my nervous system." I cut her off.  
"That's exactly how this one works! Though I had to sync my umbrage to the device before it powered on, but after that I just had to-"  
"Think and your thoughts were brought to life?" Nymph interrupted and stole the words off of my tongue. "So that UTP works off the same premise as my Neuro-Nav… interesting." My ears perked up as I heard Vauxhall begin stirring from her sleep. Nymph caught sight of it and pulled my UTP to her own, archaic version of it and the two devices connected to one another. "If you ever need to speak to me again, or you need my assistance, just think of my name and that UTP will send its location to my Neuro-Nav and I'll be there ASAP, got that?" I nodded, my mind still attempting to understand how these devices, which are hundreds of years apart, are able to connect with each other. When I looked up, Nymph, and Prometheus alike, were gone.


End file.
